The background description includes information that may be useful in understanding the present invention. It is not an admission that any of the information provided herein is prior art or relevant to the presently claimed invention, or that any publication specifically or implicitly referenced is prior art.
Latching connecters that have a pin, housing, and coil spring are used in many different applications and industries. See for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,678,210, 4,763,683, 5,411,348, 5,545,842, 5,570,719, 8,167,285, 8,297,662, 8,561,274. Such latching connectors can be designed to have a desired connect force relative to disconnect force (e.g., greater than, equal to, less than) as required by a particular application. Various housing groove geometries, pin groove geometries, and coil spring configurations, and combinations thereof, are known for achieving various relative connect and disconnect forces. Unfortunately, many state of the art designs and configurations for latching connectors fail to provide consistent and reliable connect and disconnect forces. There still exists a need to create new latching connector configurations that provide consistent and reliable connections and that are less sensitive to manufacturing tolerances/variances and the orientation of the connector.
All publications identified herein are incorporated by reference to the same extent as if each individual publication or patent application were specifically and individually indicated to be incorporated by reference. Where a definition or use of a term in an incorporated reference is inconsistent or contrary to the definition of that term provided herein, the definition of that term provided herein applies and the definition of that term in the reference does not apply.